Simpson: Newcastle are hurting

Newcastle United defender Danny Simpson is hoping a change of luck will result in the club ending their poor run of form.

Alan Pardew's side lost 2-1 at Fulham on Monday and sit just four points from the relegation zone with trips to Manchester United and Arsenal on the horizon.

However, Simpson believes the club are still more than capable of stringing together a run of positive results - with Premier League champions Manchester City travelling to St James' Park on Saturday.

"It is hard to take defeat for the fans, but I think they can see it just is not happening for us," he told The Chronicle.

"They can see we are all working 100 percent, every one of us. That is what they want to see from people in a Newcastle shirt and they can tell we are not getting the luck.

"They are just as frustrated as us. We just have to keep doing what we are doing. We are still a good team and we have good players.

"We are missing one or two, but the team out there is more than capable of winning games. We just have to do the right things and we will put more points on the board."

The ex-Manchester United man also revealed his team-mates found it hard to accept their defeat at Craven Cottage given the performance they put in.

"We are doing all of the right things," he said. "We were sat in the dressing room afterwards and everybody felt like we had nothing left to give. It was like we had left everything on the pitch.

"I don't think we have played as well as that for a long time. In the second half I don’t think we have ever put in as many shots and crosses. We hit the post and the bar and the goalkeeper made save after save.

"To come away from home and create as many chances as we did and still lose is hard."